Men's Ice Hockey | February 02, 2017

THIS WEEK
No. 9 Western Michigan hosts Arizona State for the final non-conference series of the season on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. Both games can be seen live on NCHC.tv. Friday's radio feed will be broadcast on 590 AM WKZO, while Saturday's game will return to the Bronco Radio Network flagship station of 96.5 FM.

HELP FEED KALAMAZOO
For Saturday's game the Broncos have teamed up with Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes in an effort to help restock. Loaves & Fishes helps feed nearly 40,000 people in the Kalamazoo area affected by hunger. Fans that bring in the requested items will receive a raffle ticket for WMU Hockey memorabilia that will be raffled off throughout the game.

Fans are asked to bring the following.
PROTEINS: Canned meats, hearty soups, beef stew.
FRUITS: Canned, preferably without sugar or corn syrup added.
100% FRUIT JUICE: Canned or plastic bottles
VEGETABLES: Canned, preferably without added salt.
GRAINS: Pasta, rice, oatmeal

Fans are asked to refrain from bringing rusty/badly dented or unlabeled cans, glass containers, homemade items, non-commercial canned or packaged items, alcoholic beverage or mixers, and opened or used items.

LAST WEEK
WMU went on the road and split with National Collegiate Hockey Conference rival Miami. To open the weekend, the Broncos beat the RedHawks 2-1. Cam Lee and Hugh McGing each scored goals, while Ben Blacker made 20 saves to earn his ninth win of the season.

On Saturday Western Michigan spotted Miami a 4-1 lead and scored two late goals in the third period to get within one. Miami goalie Ryan Larkin made 44 saves, including 15 in the third period to keep the Broncos from completing the comeback. Colt Conrad, Sheldon Dries and Neal Goff all scored for WMU.

AT A GLANCE: ARIZONA STATE // 10-18-2
• THE SERIES: This is the first-ever meeting between the two programs.

• SCOUTING THE SUN DEVILS: This is just the second season at the Division I level for Arizona State and the Sun Devils have seen a big improvement in just one year. ASU has doubled its win total to 10 and, after scoring just 46 goals last year, have nearly doubled its scoring to 87 through 30 games. Signature wins this season for ASU include Air Force, at New Hampshire and a sweep at Massachusetts. Back on Jan. 14 the Sun Devils earned a 2-2 tie at nationally-ranked Ohio State. Last Saturday the Sun Devils earned another tough road win, 4-2, at Quinnipiac.

Arizona State's offense ranks 32nd in the nation, averaging 2.90 goals per game. Senior Robbie Baillargeon and sophomore forward Anthony Croston are tied for the team lead with 20 points, both on nine goals and 11 assists. North Dakota transfer and Nashville Predators' draft pick Wade Murphy is tied for third on the team with 19 points on eight goals and 11 assists. Sophomore defenseman Jakob Stridsberg is tied with both Baillargeon and Croston for the team lead with nine goals, and his 16 points mark him as the top scoring blue-liner for ASU. Freshman Brinson Pasichnuk has seven goals from the blue line, as well.

Defensively the Sun Devils rank 58th in defense, allowing 4.13 goals per game. The 124 goals scored against them are the most total goals allowed by any team so far this season. ASU has played three goalies this season. Senior Robert Levin and freshmen Joey Daccord have each played in 13, with Levin starting 13 games and Daccord only 10. Recently Daccord, who holds a 3-7-0 record with a 4.36 goals against average and a .879 save percentage, made 53 saves in the 4-2 win at Quinnipiac. Levin has a 5-5-2 record with a 3.32 goals against average and an .898 save percentage.

ASU's power play ranks 53rd at an average of 13.4 percent (18-for-134). Baillargeon, Murphy and Pasichnuk each have four goals to lead the team. The Sun Devil penalty kill ranks 56th and kills off 75.8 percent (122-for-161) of their opponent's power plays.

WELCOME BACK
Junior forward Aidan Muir made his return to the lineup in the series against the RedHawks last weekend. Muir suffered an injury on Nov. 11 shortly after scoring a goal in the 4-3 win at No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth. Muir returned after the 11-week recovery period to see significant action against Miami, recording a shot on goal in each game.

FIRSTS
Freshman Cam Lee and junior Neal Goff, both defensemen, scored their first goals of the season in the Miami series. Lee netted an early goal in Friday's 2-1 win, while Goff nearly helped WMU complete its comeback on Saturday by cutting the RedHawk lead to 4-3. Twenty different Broncos have now lit the lamp so far this season.

ON THE HORIZON
Western Michigan is next at home against North Dakota on Feb. 17 and 18. The Saturday game against the Fighting Hawks will be the annual "Ice Duchenne" game for WMU. The Broncos will auction off a package to the Frozen Four in Chicago, an autographed Luke Witkowski Tampa Bay Lightning jersey and an autographed Matt Tennyson Carolina Hurricanes jersey. All proceed will go to the Parent Plan for Muscular Dystrophy. Ice Duchenne was started by former associate head coach Rob Facca, whose son Louie is afflicted with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.